The Love of Summer

Summer is about 
Having to wash off your feet
With the hose
Because if you were to walk into the house
Leaving that damned mud
On the carpet
Mama would be enraged

Summer is about
Picking at mosquito bites
Because those blasted bugs
Left little bumps on your skin
That you can't help
But dig X's into with your fingernails

Summer is about
Not getting to sleep in like everyone else
Because you have chores to do
You have to milk the goats
Before they get upset
And you have to feed the horses
Before they break through the fence again

Summer is about
Digging around in the garden
Until your skin color is questionable
Because mama needed some tomatoes
For canning
And the vegetable hid itself 
Better than a dwarf cuttlefish

Summer is about
Finding cuts on the bottom of your feet
Because running through the woods
Without shoes on
Seemed like a good idea
At the time

Summer is about
Going to the beach
And being utterly ecstatic
Until you're on your way home
With sand in your ears
And maybe
In between your butt cheeks

Summer is about
Climbing out your bedroom window
Laying on the roof
Looking into the night sky
And seeing
The faces of all the things you've lost
Dance among the stars